Ave Maria
by ninaelis
Summary: Mary's been forced to move to Tulsa with her parents and brother, but how will she like it there and why's everybody so hostile towards her?
1. Chapter 1

She was sitting on the curb outside of her new house with her arms around her knees. She sighed as she heard yelling and cursing from inside; her parents were at it again. Her mother wasn't to happy about the move to Tulsa and her father felt like he had to defend his decision. To the girl it didn't matter much, Chicago or Tulsa she didn't care. She was just sick of their arguing, it wasn't about the move, it had started long before that, the move was just an excuse for her mother to bicker.

Her brother James seemed happy to be at a new place, he should be, she thought and huffed bitterly, he was the reason they moved in the first place, him and his stupid problems. She loved her brother, she really did but she was sick of worrying about him ending up in jail or even worse dead.

The sun was setting over the rooftops of the houses on the other side of the street, the whole neighbourhood was silent, even her parents had quieted down. She smirked at the picture of perfection, all the large houses were white, all the fences surrounded by green grass and flowers, it screamed of respectfulness, those houses were full of reasonable people, all responsible and boring. Her parents were like that, but underneath the perfection the family was falling apart, the woman was unhappy and depressed and didn't even get dressed and leave the bed some days, the man was a workaholic who hid at his office to escape his wife and kids, the son was a juvenile delinquent and the daughter was a mute. When she thought about it that way it was almost funny in a depressing way. She laughed silently to her self as she stood and walked in the house.

The next morning she was standing in the kitchen looking out at the blue summer sky when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around she saw her brother, he was smiling, or more correctly smirking at her showing of his adorable dimples, his brown eyes were sparkling and lively. She had always thought it strange that a look that was so attractive on him could be so strange-looking on her. They were very alike each other, both with soft brown eyes and dark blond hair, but the features that made his face handsome made her face strange, her nose looked just slightly too big and her cheekbones looked to broad, her lips a bit too thin.

"You ready to look around the town Mary?" he asked her while grabbing a sandwich from the counter. The maid had already left for the morning but had made them some sandwiches since their mother probably wasn't getting up today. The fight last night had been too much to her.

"Sure Jimmy" she signed to him and he nodded and ran up to his room to grab his car keys.

While they were driving around town in Jimmy's red mustang they talked about school starting in four weeks, Mary wasn't going to school this year, she had graduated from her all girls' catholic school for deafs and mutes, or St Benedict as it was called last year. Jimmy was a year younger then her and still had his last year at high school left, that was one of the main reasons for moving, his grades weren't good, he was failing in most of his classes and their father wasn't satisfied with failure, no son of his was ever failing at anything!

"So, you think you'll do better at this school? she signed to her brother smirking at him teasingly. He looked up to meet her eyes and smiled evilly.

"We'll see, I wouldn't count on it though.

She laughed silently, she didn't care that her brother was failing his classes, she wouldn't have cared if he had dropped out of school altogether, she just thought of it as Jimmy getting in their fathers face, and that she enjoyed. She couldn't do anything to annoy their father since she couldn't speak with him, he hadn't taken the time to learn sign language and since she could hear him he figured that was all they needed. He probably thought it was good that she couldn't respond, that way she couldn't argue with him.

"Look there sis, you feel like having a burger?" Jimmy asked her pointing to a diner called the Dingo, it looked a big rundown but she was in the mood for a milkshake so she nodded.

The parking lot was pretty empty except for three cars that looked old and shabby compared to Jimmy's shiny new mustang. Four guys were hanging around the cars smoking and looking as if they were trying to pass the time. They were all wearing jeans and leather and they wore their hair slicked back or in swirls. She had never seen kids her own age with their hair like that, in Chicago that fashion had disappeared years back, but still she thought it was kind of tuff.

They were looking at them as they got out of the car and walked over to the entrance, following their every motion, the air felt hostile and she looked over at her brother who looked like nothing was going on, that made her feel a bit safer but still she could feel the eyes of the greasers burning her back, one of them made some comment that she couldn't hear and the other three started laughing.

Inside similar looking guys were sitting talking and when they walked up to the bar to order their food all eyes were on them.

"So sis, what do you want?" Jimmy asked smiling at her then looking at the girl behind the counter, giving her a wink and a smile. Mary couldn't help but smile at her brothers behaviour as she pointed at the milkshake on the menu, the girl looked at her with a funny look saying;

"What flavour would you like, we have banana, strawberry and chocolate." she had a superior tone and a way of looking at Mary that made both her and her brother pissed.

Mary swallowed hard and wished that she could wipe that look of the girls face with a slap. The girl kept looking at her as if she was a freak.

"Strawberry" Jimmy stated in a cold voice that made the girl flinch.

"All right" she said and scampered away to get their orders ready.

"Well that was a real brainiac" Jimmy said as they walked over to a table to sit. Mary laughed but stopped abruptly as someone walked straight into her shoulder almost knocking her down, she stumbled and felt a hand reach out to grab her arm and steady her.

"Sorry" a rough voice said and she looked up to face a guy with dark hair and sideburns, he looked her over and when he did his blue eyes that had looked nice when she first laid her eyes on him got colder and something similar to disgusted and hate flickered past them. He removed his hand from her arm and snorted as he briskly walked of.

Why would he dislike me so much without even knowing one thing about me she wondered, he can't even know about my handicap she thought. Her brother had taken place at a table and when she sat down he asked;

"You ok Mary?" in a voice full of concern. She just nodded.

"Wonder why they're all looking at us like that? She signed and Jimmy shrugged saying;

"Probably don't like strangers" she laughed at that, how could they possibly know if they were from Tulsa or not, the town was too big for everybody to know everybody.

Just then the waitress came over with their food, she didn't even dare to look at either of them, probably scared she wouldn't get a tip.

"What do you like Tulsa so far?" she asked, her brother had a large piece of hamburger in his mouth and decided to sign instead of talk.

"It's ok I guess, it's a bit small you know?"

"Yeah, people are actually a bit cowboyish around her aren't they? Wearing boots and all that" Jimmy started to crack up at that and was soon laughing his head of.

"It's like they've watched too many western movies, walking around as if they're still on a horseback" he said between bites. She laughed at that thinking back to when they had been driving down the main road watching people; many of the men were actually bow-legged.

"What'ya think you're doing here socs?" a guy was standing at their table looking at them with hatred in his eyes, behind him were four others. Mary recognised the guy that had run into her as one of them; he was smirking at her now, his eyes cold and mean.

**Well, hope you like it! I'm soory to say that my other story "Brothers in arms" wont be updated for awhile since I'm totally stuck in it, I just can't seem to get anywere with it, but I will happily take any suggestions so that I can continue it. Anyway I hope you will enjoy this story as much as the other! Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Last chapter**

"_What'ya think you're doing here socs?" a guy was standing at their table looking at them with hatred in his eyes, behind him were four others. Mary recognised the guy that had run into her as one of them; he was smirking at her now, his eyes cold and mean._

"What ya looking at girly?" the guy at the front of the others spat out his dark eyes boring into Mary's. She gulped as she felt the cold from his glare iceing her up inside.

Jimmy was still chewing slowly, taking his time as he looked straight ahead of him, ignoring the angry young men hovering over them. Mary opened her mouth, but no sound came out and she closed it again swiftly as she realized she had opened it, the guy in front of her smirked evilly at that and nudged the guy next to him in the side and soon all of them were staring at her smirking.

"What's the matter doll, too scared to speak?" the leader said in a silky voice and all of them laughed wickedly. At that Jimmy had heard enough, he turned to look at them his eyes flashing.

"Leave her the fuck alone man!" he said glaring at the leader of the gang who now had his whole attention at Jimmy.

"What the fuck's your problem?" Jimmy asked in a hard and cold voice that Mary didn't recognise to belong to her brother. He was sitting down still but he had an air about him that stated that he could be up in a second if needed.

"You're my fucking problem, you richy-rich asshole soc" the guy spat out gritting his teeth "You and that broad, you think you can just waltz in here because you have a good looking broad with you?" he was talking in an angry yet controlled and low voice, that was scaring Mary even more then screaming would have.

"Fucking socs" he spat out viciously under his breath.

Jimmy was really pissed off now, she could tell and she didn't like it.

"What the hell did you call me?" he hissed out dangerously. The guy in front of them laughed as if they were the stupidest people he'd even met.

"I said fucking socs" he repeated calmly. Jimmy just looked at them, he didn't really get it but he wasn't about to show them that so he just looked at them coldly.

"You're the leader of them?" he asked measuring the other four guys up, they were all tall but not to big, some of them looked quite thin underneath their jackets and shirts. He wasn't going to fight them but they looked to be the kind of guys he could do business with.

Mary drew a sharp breath at her brother's question, she knew what he was thinking and she didn't like it, her brother shouldn't hang around guys like that who would just attack people like that out of nowhere. She didn't mind that her brother was stealing and all that stuff but she just didn't feel comfortable around these guys, it was the way they kept staring at her, looking her up and down, smirking at her fear. She wasn't used to being around guys like that, who would check her out so openly.

"For now yeah" the guy answered with spite in his voice but laughter in his eyes.

Suddenly they dark haired guy at the back who had walked into Mary earlier walked up to the leader.

"Actually he isn't, why you wondering soc?"

"Just interested in having a word with him" Jimmy said in an uninterested voice as he looked down at his fingernails. The guy in front of him chuckled, apparently amused by Jimmy's attempt to look uninterested.

"Well then spill" he said simply, still smirking crossing his arms over his leather clad breast.

At that Mary had had enough and stood up glaring at her brother who met her glare with one of his owns, she just shook her head slowly and started to walk of.

She would in no way be around as he threw himself into another scenario like that in Chicago which had almost gotten him locked up if it hadn't been for their father personally promising the police chief that they would move out of the state. Mary cared little about her fathers efforts at holding her brother out of troubles but she did care about her brother seeking out trouble.

She would have no place in it so she left but she didn't get far before she felt his hand grab her arm roughly, she turned to look at him, his eyes were pleading with hers but she didn't give in. The greasers stood behind him watching the exchange with mirth in their cold eyes. She didn't like them and didn't want her brother to hang around them but she still shrugged her shoulders and signed swiftly so the others wouldn't pick up on it, she wasn't comfortable with people knowing she was mute;

"I'll wait outside"

Jimmy got the car keys out of his trouser pocket and gave it to her smiling softly at her. As she walked out she heard the dark haired greaser say;

"Well then soc, what ya want?"

* * *

Jimmy came walking up to the car with light steps, his eyes glittering and a smug smile plastered on his face. She knew from his looks the talk with the greasers had gone well, she sighed and wondered why he always had be so stupid, those greasers could've eaten him alive.

"Now I know what's up everybody's asses" he stated as he started up the car still smiling smugly. She didn't answer him; she just waited for him to explain.

"Those guys in there are greasers they live on the east side of town, apparently not that fancy place" he said smirking at his sister " their considered hoods by the socs, snobs who live on the west side" he was chuckling now "us".

Mary tried to register all of this and concluded it was stupid. They'd started all of that fighting over them living on the wrong side of town. It was unbelievable. Although she did see how people would think them to be hoods, but it wasn't based on their clothes she thought so but because of their emotionless expressions and cold eyes. Besides she also thought that her brother was a hood and still she knew he was nice deep down, so perhaps the greasers weren't so bad, maybe just misunderstood?

"So you finished with them now?" she signed to him in short and angry motions.

"What?" Jimmy said not picking up on all she was signing as he had his eyes on the road.

"I said; finished with them now?" she repeated slower.

"Yes, it's all set up" he responded that smug look creeping up his face again.

Mary really didn't want to know exactly what was set up, but she did now it wasn't something their father would be proud of and that made her smile to herself. Their father deserved every bit of trouble Jimmy caused him, he was an asshole. He had never cared about them; they were just failures in his eyes.

She thought about all the times he'd had business partners over for dinner and made Jimmy and Mary sit upstairs just because he was ashamed to show them of as his kids. Jimmy never dressed right in his eyes, his hair was to long and his jeans to tight and Mary was mute which was a big embarrassment to their father.

She never did get if it was because she couldn't speak or because of the fact that he couldn't understand when she signed.

They drove the rest of the way home in silence contemplating what had happened and what was to come.

**Hope you like the second chapter too. So enjoy and please review! Tack så mycket**


	3. Chapter 3

The sun had set a couple of hours ago and it was completely dark at the drive-in but the film showing on the big screen lighted the place up a bit. Mary and Jimmy were walking back to his car with the sodas they had bought at the stand. The drive-in seemed to be the place the teenagers of Tulsa went to pass their Friday nights, it was full of people both who had come in cars and who had walked.

It seemed to be a place where both socs and greasers hung out, they had seen kids in fancy clothes and cars and kids in jeans and beat-up cars mixed. The atmosphere of the place was tense, the air thick with feelings waiting to be expressed with fists and knifes. The other kids there probably saw Mary and Jimmy as socs but they didn't care about it , they didn't want any trouble over where they lived and what car they drove, they had already noticed a couple of greasers with their heads together talking seriously and then looking over at them, but they tried not to be noticed.

"Hey Brady" someone behind them called out and as they turned around they saw the greasers from the Dingo standing there. One step in front of the others stood the one who had turned out to be the leader.

"Shepard" Jimmy said and took a slightly slouched pose that mimicked that of the greasers. Mary looked at her brother in wonder, he never stood like that he always had a good posture, courtesy of their father poking him in the back all his childhood.

"All set up for Sunday?" Shepard asked taking a cigarette from his jacket pocket and lighting it.

Mary turned her attention to him; close up like this she could see what he looked like more clearly. He had a handsome face, with regular features, his eyes were blue and his hair wavy and black and full of grease, he was really good looking but there was something missing; perhaps it was the coldness in his eyes or the way his mouth was in a sneer.

"Yeah, it's all fixed" Jimmy answered as Shepard moved closer to them. He was about Jimmy's height and this close it was obvious he wasn't as old as he looked at first glance, he was probably about Jimmy's age or even a bit younger, but there was something about him that made him seem older and like one you would follow blindly.

Jimmy and Shepard took a few steps away from the others to talk in privacy.

Mary stood looking at them not noticing as one of the other greasers moved up to her and threw his arm around her shoulder.

"So doll, what're you doing with him when you could have more fun with us" he said motioning to the other two standing there smirking at her.

Mary looked up at the guy not daring to move away from him, it was the guy who had claimed to be the leader at the Dingo. He was a head taller then her with red brown hair and green eyes, he smelled of liquor and cigarette smoke. Mary didn't like to be that close to someone she didn't know but she was too scared to break free from him.

The other greasers were laughing at her and she knew she probably looked terrified.

"What'ya say doll, you and me…" the greaser continued and moved even closer to her, the smell of liquor on his breath made her cringe.

"Hey Cain, just let her be" Shepard said as he and Jimmy came up to them again. Shepard was laughing softly at her but the Cain guy moved away immediately, he was still laughing though.

"I wouldn't go with him either, he really ain't that charming" Shepard told her winking as he slapped Cain on the back of his head. Shepard smirked at her and Jimmy from where he stood next to his small gang. Mary just blinked at them relived not to have Cain hanging on to her anymore.

"Your broad ain't much of a talker is she Brady?" Shepard asked chuckling as he looked at Mary in a strange way as if wondering what was wrong with her.

"Actually no she isn't" Jimmy said coldly "and she's my sister, Mary" The reactions to this was never seen as a greaser was running up to Shepard screaming;

"Curly the Curtis' are looking for ya, Matthews been jumped" Shepard's face changed from amused to dangerously determent as he and the others ran away with the other greaser spitting out "Those fucking socs" under his breath.

Mary and Jimmy stood there watching them run for awhile then Jimmy threw his arm over her shoulder and she leaned into him as they walked of with there sodas.

* * *

It was Monday afternoon and Mary was walking around eastern downtown aimlessly, she had been in the mood to buy a new skirt but as her mother hadn't gotten out of bed today either she didn't have the courage to go into a store being attacked by saleswomen asking her all sorts of questions she couldn't answer. 

She sighed to her self as she looked up at a diner sign, Jays it said. She was in the mood for a coffee but she didn't really feel like being made fun of as she had been at the Dingo. She walked closer to the window looking in; realizing the only person inside was the elderly man behind the counter she walked in holding a pen and a small notebook in her hands.

"What will it be miss?" the man asked with a kind smile. Mary smiled back and scribbled something in the notebook which she showed him. The man just nodded and said.

"That all miss?" Mary nodded smiling, she was happy not to have gotten any strange looks or superior smiles from the man.

As she sat down in a booth she was proud of herself for buying her first cup of coffee all by herself. Her father had always kept her away from all interaction with others then her family and the girls at her school so she had never had to do those kinds of things for herself but being eighteen now she wanted to take care of herself. She didn't see herself as handicapped but she was very hard on herself for not being able to socialise as her brother could. She figured it was up to her and she wanted to change all that, she wanted to get friends and live as normal as she could.

"On the wrong side of town, ain't ya?" she looked up to see Curly Shepard standing over her; he was smirking down at her, finding her confused expression amusing.

"What would big brother say about it?" he drawled teasingly as he sat down across from her, when she didn't say anything he added. "Actually why don't you say anything about it" he looked at her strangely.

Mary took a sip from her coffee and took up her notebook writing; "He's my younger brother and I can't say anything about it since I'm mute" She gave the notebook to Curly and he took it with a smirk. As he read the smirk was replaced with a weak sneer.

"Oh shit" he sighed as he pushed the notebook over to her again. "You must really think I'm an asshole" he said smiling slightly at her.

Mary looked at him and shrugged her shoulders smiling back, his smile was infectious. His eyes were a bit softer again like they were that day at the Dingo when he had walked into her, before he had realized she was dressed as a soc.

Mary didn't really think he was an asshole, she didn't think anything about him at all, all she new about him was he was the leader of a gang and Jimmy was doing something illegal with them.

"Yes or no?" he asked smirking.

Mary wrote down; "So far no"

"Good" he said as he'd read it

"Wouldn't want little brother hunting me down" he said with a look that clearly said he could have kicked Jimmy ass with his hands tied behind his back if he wanted.

"What'ya doing in the east side of town anyway?" he asked as he folded his hands on the table in front of him. Mary looked at his hands, they were big and rough the left one had a thin white scar from his ring finger to below where the muffs of his leather jacket hid his arm.

"Was going shopping but I changed my mind" she wrote

"Oh" Curly said sneering "spending daddy's money?" his voice was sarcastic and a bit mean and Mary felt her face get red both with anger at him and shame for talking as if she had all the money in the world with someone who obviously didn't.

"I'm not spending my father's damned money, I have my own" she wrote in angry scribbles.

"'course you do" Curly stated simply but then he smiled again, a nice and warm smile and he got up and stood by her side.

"Bye bye Brady" he said smirking as he patter her on the head as if she was a small child and walked of leaving Mary both pissed and confused.

**Thank's for all the great reviews, I love reading them! Hope you like this chapter too, what do you think about Curly, is he too strange? I like this view of him though so I'm gonna keep writing him like this anyway but it's always fun to know what other people think. Anyway read and review! Tackar.**


	4. Chapter 4

Mary sighed loudly as she put her book down on the coffee table, she couldn't concentrate on reading with her father yelling in the other room. His study was next to the living room where she sat and she could hear almost every word he was screaming.

He must've been pretty upset cause his usually calm and melodious voice was now shrill and edgy.

"…whole shipment gone…yes…our costumers…yes that is an understatement…thousands of dollars…yes…"

Mary could hear how he sighed and muttered as he was waiting for his turn to speak and she knew he must be talking to the owner of the company.

She wasn't all that interested and really wanted to read her book so she got up and walked up the stairs to her room, walking down the long hallway she walked passed her mothers room, the door was a crack open and she peered inside. It was dark and smelled of her mothers perfume, the bed wasn't made and it was all a mess.

When Mary had been a child she had loved to sneak into her mother's room when she wasn't at home to play with her evening gowns and make up. She shivered as she suddenly remembered one of those times, she had been dressed in a white glittering dress and was just about to try on a red lipstick when her mother walked in on her, she ran up to her and slapped her hard across the cheek so her nose started bleeding, the blood ran down onto the white dress and Mary started crying, not because of the pain or the shock of her mother hitting her but because of the dress being ruined.

She had felt guilty about that dress for years after. Now she couldn't understand her mother valuing a dress so much. She stepped out of the room and walked down to her own; she threw herself on the bed and started reading again.

"Hey sis!" Jimmy flung her door open and walked over to her bed to sit down, Mary didn't put her book down she just ignored him knowing he was up to no good

"Feel like going to a party?" He asked taking her book and putting it on the floor next to the bed. Mary wanted the book back, not to read it but to have it in front of her so her brother wouldn't see her. Eventually she looked at him, he was smiling widely.

"It's gonna be wild" he added grinning.

"Where?" she asked in a hastily sign not feeling to sure about the whole thing, she wouldn't be able to talk with anyone but if her brother wanted her with him she knew she would go anyway.

"Shepard's" he said and Mary wondered just how close Jimmy was getting to Curly and his gang. But she sighed and nodded.

"Fine" she signed.

* * *

The music was loud as they stepped into the small rundown house; there was no hallway so they stepped straight into the living room which was packed with people. All of them looked like greasers both they boys and the girls, Mary was surprised to see so many people in one place, they were dancing and talking, her brother had been right, it was wild.

"Who are all thesepeople?" she asked her brother who let his eyes wander over the crowd.

"Shepard's gang and some friends and girlfriends" he answered smiling at his sisters surprised look.

"Wow that's many people and Curly's the leader of all of them?" she asked not being able to disguise her impressed looks.

"Not all, but about seventeen guys I think, but Curly's actually not the leader, his brother is but he's not here at the time so Curly's kind of a stand in" He explained to her.

"So are you and Curly good friends?" Mary asked with a teasing smile.

"I don't do friendship but as long as it's productive I'm in, if it doesn't give me anything…" he said smirking cunningly "…well then fuck them." Mary felt her self draw a sharp breath in surprise, she had never heard her brother talk like that, she had always thought of him as a nice guy even though he did fight and steal, but what he'd said wasn't like the Jimmy she knew, it was kind of hard and cold.

"Hey there Brady" Curly was walking up to them with a brown haired girl hanging onto his arm; she seemed a bit drunk and was walking a bit wobbly. As he reached them he nodded his greeting to Mary and turned to Jimmy.

"So this turned out well soc" he said smiling evilly at Jimmy who nodded slowly at him looking all cold and tense. Too Mary it was obvious that they didn't really like each other, in fact it was quite obvious that they didn't.

"All set for next time?" Curly asked boring his eyes into Jimmy's, his eyes were hard and hid all of his thoughts and feelings and Mary could see that that bothered her brother. He liked having control of every situation he was in and with Curly he wasn't in charge and that made him angry and tense.

"Yeah, sure Shepard" he answered in a tense voice trying to control his anger. Curly must have noticed cause he chuckled lightly and patted him on the shoulder as he walked of dragging the half sleeping girl with him.

"What are you getting yourself into brother?" Mary signed

"These guys aren't to play around with, they're dangerous Jimmy!" She was upset by the new side of her brother that she hadn't seen until tonight, he seemed so angry and mean somehow, he was just like all of the greasers at this damned party, just cold shells of persons.

"Listen sis, Curly's just a little shit who looks up to his brother to much, he's just playing macho" He said his eyes flashing, she could hear he was upset but he didn't want her to lecture him and she new he wouldn't listen anyway so she dropped it.

"I'm taking a drink, just stay here, I'll be back soon" he mumbled as he walked of hastily.

Mary stood there leaning against a wall in the living room trying to stay out of everybody's way; she let her eyes wander over the crowd recognizing some of the others from Curly's gang from the Dingo and the movies. They were all acting like children on Christmas, dancing and laughing, they actually almost looked happy but she saw that their eyes they were still cold and bitter.

She scanned the room looking at the beat up couch and the torn wall papers; every table was full of empty liquor bottles and beer cans. She smiled as she recognized the label on the liquor, it was whiskey, and it was from her fathers company. She found it amusing that the greasers who hated people like her father would favour that label over others.

Jimmy was taking his time and she started to feel tired of just standing there, she looked around for his head in the crowd but didn't see him. It was then that she noticed that all of the liquor that was either on the tables or in the hands of greaser guys were in fact the same label, the label of the company her father was president of.

Strange she thought but then her mind wandered of as she saw Curly fighting with the drunken girl, she was screaming at him and he was smirking his eyes glittering dangerously, she grabbed his arm as he was looking at a friend laughing at her. Curly looked at the girl coldly and then he pushed her of off him so she fell to the floor as he walked away straightening the sleeve of his black shirt where she had held him.

As Curly walked past Mary he stopped and turned to her asking;

"Where's your brother Mary?" his voice was tense and his nostrils flared, he looked as if he wanted to punch someone so she signed in rushed motions telling him that she didn't know exactly. Curly sighed loudly and irritably at her grabbing her hands to make her stop.

"I don't get that doll" he was sneering at her still holding her hands firmly as he started to drag her along with him through the crowd. He didn't stop until they where in a room upstairs, it was a very messy bedroom full of ashtrays and beer cans and clothes scattered around the floor. He let go of her hand and started rumbling around in the mess. Mary watched him to shocked to do anything.

"Catch!" he called as he threw her a notebook and a pencil, Mary didn't catch them and as she bent down to retrieve them from the floor he walked over bending down to help her.

"So where is he?" Curly asked her as they where sitting next to each other on the unmade bed.

Mary wrote down what she knew which wasn't much and then returned the paper to him. He scanned it over a sneer forming on his lips.

"Fuck" he exclaimed getting up and running a hand trough his hair, his eyes were flashing and Mary felt herself stiffen as she sat there watching him as he turned to the wall punching it so hard it left a hole. Curly didn't seem to mind the pain in his hand though as he looked at the blood sipping from a torn knuckle slowly, he was breathing heavily and then he remembered Mary sitting on his bed.

"Well we better find him before he does anything stupid" he said his voice now calm. Mary drew a breath of relief and put her finger up to make him wait a minute for her to write down a question. Curly waited by the door wanting them to go downstairs as soon as possible.

Mary gave him the note and watched him reading it, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips drew back to show his teeth in an animalistic way.

"He's messing with the wrong people" he stated coldly and held the door up to her.

Downstairs the party was as wild as when they left and they immediately saw Jimmy as he was standing in a corner talking to a girl with black hair and dark eyes. Curly grabbed Mary by the arm again as he speeded towards her brother.

"Been looking for ya Brady, have some things to talk over with ya" he said in a low and threatening voice, Mary saw her brother tense up but he still slimed confidently as he turned to Curly saying;

"Let's talk Shepard"

Jimmy turned to his sister signing swiftly to her;

"Go out to the car, I'll be there in a minute"

Mary did as she was told, she didn't want to see her brother being lectured by Curly anyway and she had a feeling that was what was going to happen.

After about five minutes Jimmy came out, he was silent as he got in the car and Mary wondered what had happened between him and Curly but she didn't want to ask, it was Jimmy's business and the less she knew the better.

**Sorry for the long wait, I've been sick. Well hope you enjoy it! **


	5. Chapter 5

She pushed the swing back with her feet and let it swing back and forth slowly as she let her eyes wander over the playground, it was almost dark and except for her there were no one there.

The sun had set just minutes ago leaving the sky all purple and red, it had been beautiful and she hadn't been able to leave even though she knew she should've been home to eat hours ago. Her parents wouldn't notice she was missing anyway, her mother was in a depressed mood and stayed in her room all day and her father was to preoccupied with his company's recent problems to care where she was.

Jimmy, she didn't know where he was nowadays, he seemed to never be around the house, always hanging with his friends or what to call them, she guessed it was Curly Shepard and his gang he was hanging with but she didn't really know. Thinking about the party and the way they treated each other she wasn't too sure about it.

She had figured out some things about there "friendship" after the party, they were doing something very dangerous together and it was her brother's fault, he had set it up and it was heading for a disaster. If not for Jimmy himself then at least for Curly and his gang.

Jimmy had fixed them up with the location of his fathers company's shipping schedule and the greasers had been robbing the warehouses when they had just been refilled. She knew how much money the company must have lost on that but that wasn't what worried her.

What worried her was that her brother was acting so strange. He seemed to hate Curly and the other greasers but still he needed them somehow and she wanted to know exactly what he was up to. She had a really bad feeling about this whole matter, but it wasn't her brother's welfare that worried her, strangely enough it was Curly she was worried about.

She didn't really know why she was or even how it came about but she felt it whenever she thought of her brother's cold eyes and superior air when he was taking to Curly. Her brother was up to something major concerning the greasers and it probably wasn't something nice.

Mary sighed and jumped of the swing, she was so confused about all of it. She should really feel sorry for her father, but she couldn't feel anything for that man. And now even her own brother left her somewhat cold, he didn't seem to be the warm and caring guy she knew, there was just something about his eyes that didn't seem right anymore, he didn't seem sincere not even when he talked to her.

"Hey Mary!" she stopped abruptly in her tracks as she recognized Curly's voice.

When she turned around he was walking up to her with a broad smile and glittering eyes. She drew a sharp breath as she thought that that was exactly the kind of smile her brother never gave her anymore.

"Don't ya know the park ain't safe for soc girls at night?" he asked her his eyes losing their sparkle and turning hard. He was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, his greasy black hair flowing around his head.

Automatically she started signing that she was just on her way home but she stopped when she saw Curly's sceptical look and raised eyebrow, remembering he didn't know sign language.

"Still don't get that doll" he said getting out a cigarette from his jacket lighting it and taking a long drag.

Mary watched this fascinated by his big hands. She shrugged as an answer to what he said showing she didn't know what to do about it. She didn't even have a pencil with her. She felt frustrated, there were so many things she wanted to ask Curly about her brother and him but even if she could she wasn't sure she would have had the guts to do so.

"Well I can drive ya home then" he said and started to walk off.

Mary followed him out of the park and when he started walking even deeper into greaser territory she felt worried and gripped his arm making him stop. He looked down at her surprise showing in his eyes, his gaze drifting to her hand on his arm and Mary dropped it instantly. She looked up at him pointing in the other direction, the way to get to her house and then she saw the surprise turn to annoyance and then to amusement.

"I'm not gonna rape ya" he said chuckling "Believe it or not, I'm not turned on by socy broads" he was laughing now and Mary felt her cheeks getting warm with embarrassment.

She felt like the smallest creature alive and in that instance she hated him more then anything even more then her father. Curly must have seen her anger cause he put one of his big hands on her shoulder smiling at her as he said;

"We're just going to my place to get the car"

From there on the walk to his house and the ride in his beat up black car passed in silence. Marythought the silence was pressing and uncomfortable, wishing that he at least would turn on the car stereo but he didn't. The silence didn't seem to bother Curly in the slightest, he just kept driving looking at the road in front of him not even acknowledgeing her presence.

When he stopped outside her house which he had found his way to without a seconds hesitation, he turned to her smirking.

"So tell Jimmy I said hi"

His left arm was still on the steering wheel but his right was resting on his thigh. Mary didn't know how to thank him for the ride so she took his big hand in hers and shook it.

Curly smiled at her attempt to thank him, it wasn't a superior one it was actually a real warm smile. Mary blinked at the sight of his white teeth and the warmth of his rough hand in hers. She felt her cheeks getting warm again and she got out of the car and ran in the house without looking back.

She rested her back against the door and shut her eyes releasing a breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding.

"What the fuck were you doing with Shepard?" Mary looked up to see her brother stand before her, his eyes were flashing and his mouth sneering.

"I met him in the park, he said I shouldn't walk home alone so he drove me" she signed a bit annoyed at her brother for yelling at her.

"Do not become friends with Curly fucking Shepard, Mary" he said coldly staring at his sister "He's a loser and it will soon be obvious he is"

Mary felt her anger rise as she wondered what he meant by that, in what way was he more of a loser then her brother. Why was he spending time with and doing business with someone he thought was a loser?

"Why are you spending time with him then?" she asked him in angry shortcut signs.

"I'm not" he spat out angrily "not by choice, I need him for now but I won't for much longer" his voice was sinister and calculating and Mary felt herself freeze up inside. This wasn't like her brother, he was never that mean, but this person in front of her she knew would do anything to get his way.

"What the hell are you planning to do to him James?"

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that sis, let's just say this, you'll stay away from him our you'll find yourself falling down with him" his voice was as cold as ice and the chuckle that escaped his lips was nothing short of scary as he walked of.

Mary just stood there feeling helpless, she wanted to run after him and talk to him, like they used to, she wanted to help him but that guy wasn't her brother, he was just so strange. Cold and mean. He didn't even seem to care about her anymore and she had always been his best friend, he had always made her feel loved.

What was wrong with him? He'd seem pretty normal at that party two weeks ago but now he was totally changed. He seemed to be filled with so much hate and bitterness and it all seemed to be directed at one person, Curly Shepard.

**Sorry it took so long for me to update, I've had so much to do with my studies, so sorry... Hope you'll like this chaper! Tack så mycket!**


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